Identification and characterization of microbial agents in a bloom of floating microorganisms in the Hailang River, China in 2006

In February 2006, a large amount of unknown floating microorganisms appeared in the Hailang River (HR) in the City of Hailin, Heilongjiang Province, China. The microorganisms caused the river water fouling and threatened the clean water supply of the city. To identify the unknown floating organisms, morphological and histological inspection, PCR, cloning and sequence analysis were conducted. The results revealed that the unknown floating organisms in the river were a novel species that likely belonged to oomycetes in Saprolegniales. The organisms were named Saprolegnia sp. HL0602.